Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery, Kenton Dashiell, led an IITA team to meet the Vice President of Liberia on 2 February. Dashiell stressed that IITA had been in the business of transforming African agriculture for the past 50 years.
He cited examples of IITA’s recent interventions, including the distribution of high-yielding cassava varieties and planting materials to farmers in the country, as well as upscaling of cassava processing machines and products through the Smallholder Agricultural Productivity Enhancement & Commercialization (SAPEC) project led by Michael Edet (Extension Agronomist) and Wasiu Awoyale (Postharvest Specialist) of IITA. A good example of the upscaling is the establishment of six fully equipped cassava processing centers in strategic regions of the country for the production of value-added products like fufu powder, high quality cassava flour, and starch.
